Charge:

1. develop a plan for identifying geographers who would be interested in presenting AP Geography workshops that certify teachers to offer the course, and
2. propose a model plan to support the dissemination of the AP Geography course.

Need:

1. AP certification workshops typically assume that the teachers know enough about the subject matter to teach the course. At present, the main focus of these workshops is to instruct teachers in how to prepare their students for the AP exam. In the case of geography, the workshops will also have to focus on content and appropriate teaching materials. In addition, high school administrators assign instructors for the AP certification workshops, and they generally do not have adequate connections to appropriate geographers.
   
2. Because geography is not generally well-established in the schools, the demand for and interest in the course will not be as strong as it is formost other AP courses. The geography education community can play an important role by disseminating information about AP geography to both the schools and the college/universities.

Suggestion 1: Plan to identify geographers for staff certification workshops:

1. NCGE will communicate with ETS and request a) a list of ETS-certified universities (where all AP workshops are held), and b) information about how many workshops ETS expects to offer annually in each state, the length and timing of the workshops, and whether the geography workshops might be longer, given the unique problems of geography certification.
   
2. AAG will use the Guide to Geography Programs and specialty group information to develop a list of geography professors who teach cultural/human geography at the ETS-certified universities. Geographers listing specialties in geography education as well as cultural/human geography will also be identified. AAG will communicate with these geographers to enlist their support for AP Geography in general and to ask them to offer to teach certification workshops.
   
3. NGS will send the AAG lists to the Alliance coordinators in each state with a request that they identify additional cultural/human geographers in the ETS-certified universities who have expressed an interest in geography education. The Alliances will communicate with these geographers to enlist their support for AP Geography in general and to ask them to teach certification workshops.
   
4. AGS and NCGE will review the AAG and Alliance lists and suggest additional names of faculty qualified to offer the certification workshops. Each organization will contact these faculty with the same invitation.

Suggestion 2: Model Plan to Support Dissemination of the AP Geography Course

1. AAG and NCGE will schedule full day AP workshops for potential instructors/interested teachers at their annual meetings. (Dick Anderson will organize the NCGE workshop in1999.)
2. AAG and NGS will regularly feature articles about the course and the certification workshops in their newsletters.
3. NGS will coordinate an effort to have the Alliances: a) identify the social studies supervisors in each state who have some background in geography, and to b) send representatives to update them about the AP Geography Course and the availability of qualified geographers who are interested in teaching the certification workshops.
4. AGS will promote the AP Geography Course through Ubique articles and through the AAG Travel Program.

Prepared by Osa Brand, Educational Affairs Director, Association of American Geographers

1710 Sixteenth Street NW Washington DC 20009-3198
Voice 202-234-1450
Fax 202-234-2744
obrand@aag.org